Grégoire Dupuis

First edition, rare.
Contemporary full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, red morocco title-label, all edges speckled. Head and tail of spine worn and one corner extensively damaged. Two raised bands cracked.
A sometimes fierce satire of the literary world. In a fictional Greece, at Delphi, under the aegis of Apollo, the author orchestrates the most improbable encounters. We see parading first the ancient authors, then the moderns, Descartes, Spinoza, and few authors are spared by the author's sallies.

Third enlarged edition. The first edition of 1707 and the second of 1709 from the same publisher had only one volume.

Contemporary full glazed brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with rich compartments. Red morocco title label. Headcap of volume I worn. Small lack to upper headcap of volume II. Good copy.

The author held a choice place in the literary life of his time, and his Odes had considerable success. His most famous opera libretto was L'Europe Galante, but he brought numerous innovations to the stage; a regular at the salon of the Marquise de Lambert, he was at the origin of the second Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns, taking the side of the Moderns, declaring verses and the rule of three unities in theatre useless. If his poetry has become barely readable (although one finds the literary life of the time there), it is, like his critical work, an important testimony of an era.

First edition of this play, which is followed by Romulus, whose first edition is from 1713. The second play has its own title page and privilege. Both plays belong to the same edition.
Contemporary full sheep binding. Decorated raised spine. Red morocco title label. Lower headcap worn. Lower corners bumped.
Les Machabées was first performed in 1721. The author having not judged it appropriate to reveal himself, the play caused a great stir among critics, and several connoisseurs imagined that at least the first three acts could only be by the late Racine. Playwright, poet and fabulist, Houdar de la Motte (1672-1731) even wrote operas (L'Europe galante) and ballets. He was one of the leaders of the Modern party (in the quarrel between the Ancients and Moderns), he frequented philosophical salons and literary cafés and replaced Pierre Corneille at the French Academy. He held an important place in the literary life of his time.